


Innocence Fades As Does the Day

by merry_magpie



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Childhood, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-17
Updated: 2010-08-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 03:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/107887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merry_magpie/pseuds/merry_magpie





	Innocence Fades As Does the Day

It was the lazy season of late August. The grain harvest had yet to fully ripen, and the hard work of reaping it, which lasted for a long month, had not begun. At 13, Will and Merlin were still young enough that after a morning and early afternoon full of chores, they had until the sunset to do with as they pleased. As they almost always did, they both headed out to the field with the giant oak tree near the main road. They enjoyed climbing in it, if only because of its massive height. They had also hung a swing from it. The ropes weren't equal length to compensate for the branch it hung from growing up towards the light, and when you swung in it, it had a tendency to swing more slowly and loosely from the left side, the side with the longer rope.

Today, Merlin sat in the swing and Will was trying to wind it up as high as the rope would allow. He let go and for a few moments Merlin waited impatiently for the swing to start in its increasingly faster decent into a spin. Merlin road the swing, spiraling down and up, again and again, until it finally had no momentum left and stopped. His stomach felt a little weak and his head spun, but he laughed with his arms crossed in front of him over the ropes.

Merlin was still dizzy and Will had began pushing him off the swing so he could take his turn when they both heard the distant thrum of many horses on the road. This was the time of year when the King or an envoy of his nobles and knights would travel around the kingdom. Merlin glanced briefly at Will before they were climbing over each other and up the tree, each vying for the best and highest branch to see the knights ride by. Will won the highest position by shoving Merlin out of the way at the crucial foothold near the Y shaped branching section that lead to their favorite seat, the highest in the tree. "Hey," Merlin protested against the shove, but he wasted no more effort; there were plenty of good seats in the tree and Will had won this time.

Far to their left they could see the dust the horses were kicking up on the dry, wide roads that wound their way by the village. As the group approached Merlin could finally see the colors on the standards, and was surprised to find them red and gold, and not the purple and white of his own king's court. This, then, was some other court retinue traveling past Ealdor and from the number of knights, Merlin guessed they were important enough he should feel impressed. And he was he supposed, Will certainly was. "I think they're from Camelot, look at the dragon on their flags," he called down to Merlin who sat on the branch below and slightly behind him. Will had learned about knights and nobles from his father, who fought sometimes for their King and had his own armor. He cared about knights and kings in a way that Merlin, who had no father let alone one who was a sometimes knight, had ever cared. Out of the corner of his eye Merlin watched Will shake his branch in excitement.

The band of men seemed, at this point in their journey, a little tired and hot. It wasn't hot where he and Will had been playing, but out in the road, with no shade and in all those layers of armor, it must have made the afternoon uncomfortable. When the red and gold group finally passed them and rounded the turn in the road, Will called down to Merlin again. "I bet they're on their way home, to Camelot."

"Obviously, Will." Merlin said, because well, he hadn't thought about it at all, but Will didn't need to know that.

"I'd like to be a knight." Will said, bouncing slightly in the tree again. "I could use my Dad's armor when he's too old to use it."

"Me too." Merlin said, not trying not to let the touch of jealousy he always felt when Will talked about his heroic Father creep into his voice.

Will seemed not to notice, and continued blithely on. "We could march all over, to foreign lands even. And fight with swords." Will started swinging around in the branch again, and waving one of his arms around, imitating, badly in Merlin's opinion, fighting with a sword. Will turned around to egg Merlin into joining his imaginary band of knights when the hand holding on to the branch slipped out from underneath him and Merlin watched Will's eyes go wide as he realized he was falling. Merlin didn't even look down to the ground below before he felt the warmth at the very center of him flare out and grab Will, suspending him upside down in mid-air, the yellow evening sun silhouetting him against the sky.

"Uh, uh." Merlin started. "Just, wait." Merlin climbed down the tree as fast as his stuttering, nervous feet could manage and jumped the last few feet landing on the ground in a puff of dust. He ran around to the other side of the tree and found himself looking Will in the eye, upside-down. Will's eyes were wide with fear and grew larger as Merlin got closer to him, but he seemed to not be able to move aside from that. What Will was seeing, Merlin could guess. His mother had told him, his eyes glowed gold when he used his magic. This was often accompanied by an admonishment to stop using it, even when he thought no one would notice, because his eyes could give him away. Merlin didn't want to think about how angry his Mother would be when she found out.

Right now, however, he had to focus on getting Will down safely before the magic gave out and he fell. Merlin looked around, but there was nothing for Will to fall safely onto, and, regardless, Will was falling at an angle where he would either land on his head or his neck. Merlin looked around for a few more moments when he felt the magic's warmth slip a little and knew that he wouldn't be able to hold Will up much longer.

Then he had an idea; one he'd never tried before. Merlin moved to stand next to his friend propping Will's head up underneath his shoulder. He could hear Will's panicked breaths panting in his ear. He clamped his chin on Will's shoulder and reached up grabbing Will's torso. Then he pulled. Moving Will, frozen in the spell, was like pulling a hand cart in mud, it wasn't impossible but it took a lot of effort and was slow going. But he tugged and tugged until the upper half of Will's back was resting against Merlin's chest and his head was upright, both of them staring at the trunk of the oak tree. Then Merlin let go of the spell holding Will up, the heat and force inside him winking out.

Will's weight crashed into Merlin's, forcing him to the ground more quickly then he expected and knocking all the air out of his lungs. For a long moment, Will's body rested against Merlin as he struggled to take in another breath of air. Will seemed to recover from the fall before Merlin did, probably because he fell onto a soft Merlin-shaped pillow, and rolled over staying half on top of Merlin, staring him in the eye.

"What was that?"

Merlin struggled for a second good breath. "Will." In his mind Merlin could hear his Mother pleading with him to "stay hidden" and was having a hard time saying anything.

"Because, I think that was probably most fun I've ever had falling out of a tree."

"Look, I'm sorry I never." Merlin said finally getting some words out of his mouth before he paused. "What?" Looking up into Will's eyes wide now with amusement and joy, Merlin realized the best he had hoped for, and what he thought he'd never actually have, may have happened.

"That was brilliant. Was that really you?"

Merlin grinned back at Will, in a way that Will often said made Merlin looked completely daft. "Yeah."

"Wow." Will said back. For some reason that Merlin couldn't really explain, it was that moment he noticed Will was still half on top of him, looking him in the eye. And their faces, their lips, were very, very close together. Merlin watched Will watch him, and look at his own lips. Will leaned forward slightly, shifting his weight over Merlin so they fit together in a way that they never had before.

The kiss was gentle and hesitant for a moment, and Will's lips were softer than he imagined anyone's lips would be. There was a feeling, that Will was sharing a secret with him, just as Merlin shared one of his. Merlin lifted his head, and tried to deepen the kiss, but instead of more soft, he managed to mash his teeth up against Will's. Will pulled back slightly, with an annoyed look on his face. "You're rubbish at kissing." He crooked his head to the side a bit. "Oh, don't tell me this is your first time?"

"And you've got so much experience," Merlin retorted, because really, he wasn't going to admit that it was his first kiss.

"More than you, at least. There was Byrn, in one of the hedges at the last spring festival for one."

Oh, right the festival, where all the villages got together and there was a chance of being with someone his own age beside Will. Why hadn't he thought of that? "Wait, which Byrn, the girl from Mabyn or the boy from River Glen?"

Will just grinned like he was saying wouldn't you like to know? And Merlin was about to reply, when Will leaned in and kissed him again. This time Merlin let him take and keep the lead. And if Merlin was rubbish at kissing now, he also knew he was a fast learner.

Merlin's lips felt red and sensitive when Will finally pulled back and rolled off from on top of him. Will lay next to him, both of them looking up at the darkening sky though the great oak tree they lay beneath. And in their pact of mutual secret sharing, Merlin knew it was his turn to respond. "Wow." He said.

He thought that it might be nice, to share secrets, if it always this way. Will stretched out away from Merlin, giving himself more space, but he left the knuckles of his hand brushing against Merlin's and the gesture tugged at something in Merlin. And did nothing to ease the tension he felt inside.

"So, can you make anything freeze? Like you did me?" Will asked.

"Yeah, I think."

"Like this?" Will asked as he threw a dirt clod up into the air above their heads. Merlin watched it go straight up, pause at the top of its ascent and then start to fall before he let his magic reach out and grab it. Merlin looked over at Will who was grinning back at him. Still looking at Will, he caused the clod to explode and then freeze again. The effect was reminiscent of a giant dandelion ready to loose its seeds on the wind. With that thought a gentle breeze caught the lightest of the dust and blew it into the cooling evening. Will was still looking at Merlin's magic when Merlin rolled away and let the dirt and pebbles unfreeze, falling onto Will, who sputtered at the onslaught.

Merlin was already running away from the oak tree and the road towards the village. He knew he needed the head start, because Will was faster than him, but he was going to win this race.


End file.
